Note from
Emperor's Clothes: We are told by the Western
press that Mr. Milosevich's government uses
undemocratic means. One example was the measure,
passed by vote of Parliament, to allow direct
election of the Yugoslav President. We were
puzzled at how that could be termed undemocratic,
but so be it. Now, you will note, that the
Yugoslav officials banned from entering Kosovo
(an internationally recognized province of
Serbia, which is part of Yugoslavia) are
described as having been "bent on organizing
next month's Yugoslav elections in the southern
Serbian territory." Understandably, such
behavior is not permitted in our brave new world.

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia, Aug. 22 (UPI) - The U.N. Mission
in Kosovo has banned the provincial leader of Serbia's
ruling Socialist Party and three other top party
officials from entering Kosovo. The banned officials are
bent on organizing next month's Yugoslav elections in the
southern Serbian territory.

The Belgrade newspaper Blic reported Tuesday the ban
was imposed on the president of the Socialist Party's
Kosovo committee Zivorad Igic and three committee
members, including Novak Bijelic, director of the Trepca
industrial complex, which was taken over by force by U.N.
peacekeeping troops on Aug. 14, on the ground that it was
a major air polluter and required restructuring.

During a visit to the Trepca main smeltery at Zvecan,
near Mitrovica, at the end of last week, UNMIK
administrative chief Bernard Kouchner reportedly
explained his decision to keep Bijelic away from the
province by saying that "the director general of
this concern has been creating problems and has refused
to cooperate with UNMIK."

At the same time, Kouchner said that "the same
measures will be applied to several other Serb officials
who are spurning cooperation."

Blic said reporters were told of the ban by UNMIK
police representatives in Mitrovica Monday. The paper
recalled that the UNMIK regional administrator for North
Kosovo, William Nash, had hinted last week that more than
10 Serbs were on a list of undesirable persons.

UNMIK police manning the checkpoint closest to the
boundary between Kosovo and Serbia proper at the village
of Donje Jerinje have received a list of nearly 30 people
to be barred entry, Blic quoted UNMIK sources as saying.
Apparently, Igic and the other three men are on the list.

The sources said the ban would last between 15 and 30
days but that this period could be extended, according to
the paper.

Igic and the others may have gotten in trouble with
UNMIK because of their activity in organizing the federal
presidential, legislative and local elections on Sept.
24, without consulting Kouchner and UNMIK.

Igic was quoted by the Srna news agency as telling the
provincial Socialist Party committee in Pristina that all
polling stations in Kosovo would be open because
"the federal elections have been scheduled for the
whole of Yugoslavia and for all voters. Enough time
remains until the polls for voter lists to be
compiled."

The UNMIK spokeswoman, Susan Manuel, said in an
interview that nobody had been in contact over this
matter so far with Kouchner but that nobody had the
mandate to interfere with citizens or stop them from
exercising their voters rights. However, she warned that
Kouchner "is now displaying enthusiasm" about
the Yugoslav elections.

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